Blogs from Pelopennese, Greece, Europe

Due to a general strike, my visit to Ancient Corinth (yes, the place where Apostle Paul wrote the letters to the Corinthians) was cut short. I did get to see some things from outside the perimeter though, like the ruins of a town located outside the city and also the temple of Apollo. The Corinthians were pagans before Paul converted them to Christianity, so temples and idols of the Olympic deities were still found among the ruins at Corinth. I was also able to see the walls of the ancient acropolis of Corinth (most ancient city centers are located on the top of a steep hill/mountain so that the city can see possible threats and also defend itself from outsiders. After leaving Ancient Corinth, I headed to the coast of the Peloponnesus to the walled city ... read more

I really never had any intention of bungee jumping; it was a purely spontaneous opportunity that I seized after some convincing (especially since heights make me queasy…) Anyhow, my roommate decided that we were going bungee jumping on Oct. 9th because that was the second to last weekend to do it before it closed for the winter season and also because the weather was nice (when we left…) I was hesitant about going at first because A) I don’t like heights, B) I didn’t know the safety statistics of the place; granted they have been in business since 1991, and C) it was expensive—like 16E for transportation, 60E to jump, and 10E for a t-shirt saying that I did jump (because you need a souvenir after doing something like that!)…about $120 USD total. I told Megan ... read more

Epidaurus is host to one of Greece’s most prestigious ancient theatres, which happens to be in an area designated for healing (apparently music and the arts were known for healing in antiquity as well…) This renowned theater was carved into the naturally occurring limestone deposits on a mountainside in Epidaurus. The theater is designed so that acoustically sound could travel through the theater so that anyone in any seat could hear sound from the stage. (It works too; one of the girls from our group sang (without a microphone) and I was able to hear her from the very top row of the theater!) These guys were knowledgeable in the realm of physics without actually knowing why things work the way they did! Visiting Mycenae was an interesting experience on its own. Of the ruins left ... read more

Howdy, readers. We're in Greece now, but I'll give you the whole story... I apologize for the pun. (written on Saturday) Originally, we had planned to drive south from Venice on Thursday and Friday, and catch a ferry Friday night to Saturday morning to Greece. However, my dad was browsing the internet and found a different, longer ferry route that left on Friday at 2 pm and got in on Saturday at 8-ish, and it left from Venice, which eliminated about 10 hours of driving. So we're on that ferry now, and we have had some lovely views of the Greece coastline. The water here is absolutely lovely, navy blue in the deep water and turquoise in the shallows. We've had only good weather on the ferry, which is fantastic because noone is terribly seasick :). ... read more

The mid-afternoon ferry brought us back to the Peloponnese and we had many hours before we took our midnight ferry overnight to Corfu. Since we spent days in extreme SW Peloponnese we decided it only fair to check out the extreme NW corner – a spit of land poking into the Patraikos Gulf had both a wildlife preserve and apparently the best beaches near Patra. Kim had been saying that she hoped we saw some scenes of traditional Greek rural life that she has seen during previous visits. Will tells me the Greek God of the crops is Demeter. Clearly Demeter heard Kim’s pleas because the next fifteen minutes was remarkable. We had been passing many roadside stands sporting all sorts of melons – mainly watermelons and what looked like pumpkins. At the edge of farms ... read more

This morning we left the hotel for the archaeological site of Mycenae. The first stop was the Treasury of Atreus or sometimes known as the Treasury of Agamemnon. This was used as a tomb for royalty. The beehive like structure inside and the size of the tomb allows us to know it was for a king. After taking several pictures, we made our way across the street to the palace ruins. The visible ruins date back to the 13th century and we first had to pass through the Lion’s Gate. This relief is the oldest monumental relief in Europe. After surviving the passage through the Lion’s Gate, we continued to make our way up to the remains of the palace. After checking the remains of the palace, we went into the museum to see the artifacts ... read more